All Good Things

Posted on Wed Nov 14th, 2018 @ 2:29am by Commander Rita Paris & Captain Enalia Telvan

Mission: Escaped Pantheons
Location: USS Hera, Deck 1, Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: 2395, en route to the Galactic Core

There were as many styles of command as there were commanders. Some would follow standard patterns, some would have eccentricities, and learning how to interpret signals and communications from one's captain was the duty of any of the crew who interacted with them.Even the lowliest crewman should know to gangway when the captain was coming through, and even the first officer usually got at least a little chill down her spine when she received the very simple communication, 'Git in mah office!'.

But Rita Paris had spent time getting to know Captain Enalia Telvan, and she was beginning to understand the woman, as well as her sense of humor. So when this particular request came down the line, it meant any one of a number of things. The Captain was in a mood, possibly about any number of things, but most likely Rita was not one of those things. The Captain was having a bit of fun with accents. The Captain was feeling her oats this afternoon and was excited about something. The possibilities were endless.

However, the one thing of which the leggy Lieutenant Commander was not uncertain was that she wasn't in trouble, nothing was on fire and whatever it was would likely engender a conversation. So she checked her uniform and her appearance- she of all officers on the ship always had to be regulation, even if her uniform went out of regulation 125 years ago. Snatching up a PaDD and a spare, the lithe lieutenant locomoted to the turbolift to take it up. Striding across the bridge with a few nods, Rita approached the Captain's Ready Room, assuming the door would open at her approach since she was expected, which it did so dutifully.

"There you are! Hurry and get in here. We have news from the Commodore." Enalia was certainly in a mood. It seemed to be a mix of hyper and frustrated and manic, and she was fiddling with the holographic controls on her desk, trying to clear up a transmission from Commodore Meowlith. Turning the display on her desk terminal, the normally 3D display had been flattened out from all the distortion on the transmission.

Enalia sighed and threw her hands up in the air, leaning back in her chair in defeat. "I have our next mission brief and it seems 'Nia is in over her ears again. On top of that, this interference in the transmission she sent is frustrating. I can't make out anything she said. I was barely able to decrypt the data package she sent."

"Decryption is supposed to be Dauntless' specialty as I recall. Because I don't think whacking the side of the console is going to help, and that's about all I've got to contribute," the fulsome first officer offered. "Route it through to her panel and leave her alone with it for a minute. She might learn something classified or you might just make her wet herself. Meanwhile, you can take a breath and tell me what you know maybe, ma'am?"

"Not a bad idea," Enalia pulled her terminal back around and tapped in a few commands before sending it off to Dauntless' terminal. "Hopefully she can get it sorted soon."

Enalia clicked her terminal off and looked up at Rita seriously. "Anyway, the data package is filled with information. We're to head to New Texas, a far flung Federation colony out in the sticks. They're a bunch of tribal Earth types that headed towards the core of the galaxy to get away from it all, smoke mind altering substances, and stare at the stars. They've set aside a delegation to meet us and relay information, but they've seen some weird things that even they can't brush off that aligns with what we're after."

"I've known a Texan or two, so I think I understand the mindset. What weirdness is afoot that has such a bee in your bonnet, ma'am?" Rita drawled out a Texan euphemism, then seeing the look on the Trill captain's face, realized it was definitely not flying. "Ah, what has you concerned, Captain?"

"They were starting to get answers to their prayers. In person. So they started to pray to other deities. Even ones they didn't think were real. Some answered and others they got answers from... Other deities... Apparently there's a God of useless knowledge named Obweh. You can file that under, 'useless knowledge'." Enalia paused a moment to let that sink in.

Then she continued. "Meowlith found a quantum energy ribbon that she can trace, though. She's heading into some sort of turbulent EM barrier to trace it. I'm assuming that's when she sent the message."

"Wow. That woman has a talent for trouble that even I have to admire," Rita admitted. "Okay, so you start calling for 'sweet mother of all that's busty' and suddenly she's showing up to make you feel inadequate while she answers your prayers. So I'm guessing there's a concentration of energy or a focus... or apparently an energy ribbon, right. Which I guess is energy that moves in a specific wavelength like an aurora borealis or something. Which my people used to see as the bridge between the mortal and the divine. 'The gods made a bridge from earth to the heavens which is called Bifravst' was written around 1220 BC in Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda." Rita paused to take in the captain's expression and shrugged broadly.

"What, it's relevant, I've been reading up. We're actually going to meet Odin, which is oddly fascinating to me, and I don't want to look like I'm clueless and embarrass... uh, Starfleet," the brassy blue-eyed blonde bombshell broadcast. "So could this be something like that, y'think?"

Enalia looked a bit curious and impressed. "That's actually about what I was thinking. And Odin apparently had a thing come up so he sent Thor." Clearing her throat, Enalia glanced down at her desk. "Try not to swoon too hard when you meet him tomorrow."

Noting the unusual reaction from the normally unabashed pirate queen, Paris deflected to shift the focus. "Pffft! I'm not a fan of redheads, dirty guys who eat their own goats or men who overcompensate with phallic objects," Rita snorted. "Besides, I've yet to meet man nor god who stacks up to what I come home to, so I'll try not to toss damp panties at the god of thunder. Who is a bit of a letdown from the one-eyed god-king. Odin's one of the classic archetypes, like Zeus or Jupiter or Yaweh, credited with creation and being the god of just about everything. He actually fathered Thor with Joro, who was a jotunn, the personification of Earth, which makes her a Gaia analogy."

Shaking her head slightly, Rita blinked rapidly. "Sorry, I definitely did not read all of that, so thank your chief science officer for the infodump there..."

"Actually, he's a blond, his hammer is smaller than you'd think and... Anyway, there's more in the..." Enalia was interrupted by the chirping of her terminal. Clicking it on, her eyes shot up as she saw the reply from Dauntless. "That was a lot faster than I expected."

"Which means either she's as brilliant as she claims, or the message was so broken up there's very little she could do with it. So, what's it today, Ms. Dauntless?" Rita stepped around behind the Captain's chair to see if the image was going to remain flat, in which case she was in position to see what there was to see.

Clicking play, the message started out grainy but smoothed out well and even went full normal 3D after a few seconds, though audio and sometimes the video was a bit grainy still. Farenia was on the bridge of a modern Oberth class, the lights dim and flickering around her as she spoke. "We've breached the EM barrier.... ....Glad we're in an Oberth class... The victorium hull and experimental shielding was perfect for the spatial distortions.... ....was as if space itself was twisting around us.... .... We've discovered a massive.... .... ....it's bigger than any ship.... ....self contained..." Then the video shook and Farenia seemed to scramble for her chair's console. ".....caught... ....tractor beam... trying to send scan...." and then the feed cut out, but not before both of them could clearly see what could only be described as a worldship splayed out on the screens across the back of the bridge. The other crew were definitely busy analyzing it, whatever it was, and the images were clear enough to tell that it was at least several times larger than Enalia's fortress at least.

Enalia leaned back in her chair. "Damn I'm glad that woman has nine lives... Either that or she's lucky as fuck or she'd have been dead years ago..."

"I'm sure she'll be fine, Captain," Rita reassured the spotted starship commander. "Sonak theorized at one point that some sentient life seem to manifest the ability to somehow accumulate an accretion of possibility energy, for use in moments where death seems highly likely. Which they then employ to alter the odds, seeking an unlikely outcome wherein survival or success occurs." Catching the captain's expression, Rita shrugged comically. "What, he doesn't believe in luck, and I am simultaneously one of most unlucky and luckiest women alive, so he had to think of something. And it seems the Commodore is in the same club."

"So, probability physics aside, she's gotten into trouble, and where Meowlith dares to tread, so too dares the Hera?" Paris asked, fingers already tapping at her PaDD to request information about victorium hulls and their relativity to whatever the Hera's hull was composed. "Spatial distortion shielding sounds fun... is that French's department?"

"Yeah, she's definitely one of the luckiest people I know, just like you." Enalia was thoughtful for a moment before continuing. "As for the hull, that would be Thex's department. We don't have the time or resources to coat the hull in victorium - our poly-duranium alloys will have to do. But the Oberth classes tested almost every single system we have aboard other than what's in the pod, so I'm sure if Thex goes over the data we have, she and maybe Dedjoy can come up with something."

Those well-manicured fingers of the extradimensional explorer were already fluttering across the surface of the tablet, assigning the duty to the Captain's yeoman and the chief engineer. "Understood, sharing the file and making the assignment now. So what about that ship? That seemed... large. Hypothesis and analysis, or do we need to call in Science on that one for some dissection of the footage under a sharp and logical eye?"

"Good thinking. In fact, send both files to all the senior staff with assignments." Enalia looked up at the ceiling, letting Rita commandeer her terminal. "Science and ops can run analysis, Intel can do intel things, security can do threat analysis, Engineering get on protections from that EM barrier, Medical and Counseling prepare the crew for whatever we might face."

"Also..." The leopard skinned woman eyed Rita mischievously for a moment before continuing. "Senior staff has been authorized the new uniforms. If they want to try them out, this mission is the one to do it."

“On it, Captain,” Rita muttered as her fingers flew across the surface of the tablet, sending missives to the department heads to move them to the appropriate action, coordinating the efforts of the crew to prepare the mighty starship for the trial that lay ahead of her. Without looking up nor pausing, Rita smirked a sly little expression of her own. “And if you want me out of my ‘golden oldie’ to sell the new uniforms to the crew, I’m going to need some graphics, ma’am.”

"Graphics? What kind of graphics?" Enalia wasn't entirely sure what graphics meant, but she knew that Rita would look good in red. She'd had a mockup made of her in Commander pips with the new uniform and it looked stunning. She just hoped Rita didn't stumble across that file.

“Images of the male and female variants of the uniforms, ma’am? A visual representation of what the uniforms look like so that the crew can visualize themselves in the uniforms,” Rita continued, still not looking up from the PaDD. In truth, she was still loathe to give up her old uniform, which had been her boon companion for so long. Hell, someday she even imagined she might add that additional solid ribbon to the sleeve. But life had moved on, the universe had changed, and Starfleet had changed the uniform regs, as they seemed to do so often.

But she was clinging to the past, and she knew it. Command wore red now, and she was quite firmly entrenched as command. While the Captain had been generous enough to allow her to wear her old uniform amongst the sea of grey and black that were the modern uniforms, this was a none-too-gentle nudge to get Rita to embrace the future, in a literal sense. This was the next change to the uniforms, and it actually addressed her concerns about the sheer darkness of the uniforms. Instead, Starfleet was moving back to bright colors, to reflect having come through the Borg war and the Dominion war. Rita read the reports- there were more exploratory vessels being sent out, more recruits joining from hundreds of world, and the optimism of her age seemed to be making a comeback.

Of course, Rita hadn’t had anything to do with that. She’d only been here for a few months, and she strongly suspected that perhaps a dozen people not on the USS Hera even knew she existed. So while she could take no credit for it, still, it seemed the spirit of the 23rd century had indeed arrived with her, and a change was making its way through Starfleet. Which meant that she had no excuse to dogmatically stick to her old anachronistic uniform. She wasn’t a member of a 2268 crew, she belonged to the crew of a starship in the year 2395, almost 2396 if she read her calendar correctly. Which meant that, like it or not, it was time to get with the times.

As she had been tapping away lost in thought, the silence caught her attention, and Rita blinked, realizing that the captain was looking at her with a mixture of bemusement and curiosity. “I’m… sorry ma’am, I, ah, was … I missed that last bit. What were you saying?”

"I was saying that the holographics are already loaded and can be brought up at any time," Enalia clarified, not having said anything. "You know, this mission would be a good time to wear it. We might need a more... Diplomatic look."

“Yes, ma’am,” Rita replied, then sighed. “It’s funny… I fought so hard to get out of that color. Red was communications, security and engineering, and I was determined not to be some bridge ornament with a transponder stuck in my ear reporting the news to the men who made the command decisions. I fought and scrapped and argued so hard to get into command gold, because I wasn’t gonna be some trophy wife or arm candy for some smug starship captain. I was gonna get out there and make a difference. And I did… even if no one but Sonak knows it in this universe.”

“But I guess I can’t escape it. You’ve been more than fair letting me wear my old uniform, captain, and I’ll forever be grateful to you for that. But it seems the times they are a-changin, and my complaints about those uniforms and were apparently reflected back at Starfleet Command. We’re going back to those colorful uniforms that broadcast our presence, that let people know we’re here to help. Which means I’m out of excuses.” A chagrined smile settled on the face of the old-school officer. “So I guess I’m going back to crimson after all… a hundred and thirty eight years after I managed to get out of it!’

“I know, I know, example to the crew, morale and discipline, and it’s off-putting if I am representing Starfleet and then we aren’t uniform in our appearance, I get it. I do,” Rita stepped back from around the back of the captain’s desk, then sat primly on the edge of the small couch in the ready room. ”To your credit, I know you aren’t making this an order, and you’re letting me make the choice on my own. You are just hinting, and… it’s a small thing to ask, Captain. And given all that you’ve done for me, it’s the least I can do. I’ll put my old uniform in a museum display and get with the times.”

"Thank you," Enalia smiled kindly at the heartfelt admission. "If it helps any though, this generation has always seen red as command. In fact, for almost eighty years, everyone wore a red and black uniform so even the older generations don't know any other colors. When we went back to using gold and teal, I honestly think the admiralty were too attached to red to give it up so command kept it."

Then she couldn't help but chuckle with a sudden thought. "On top of that, it hides any blood and dirt they might get on them, so that might be the idea as well. Hide the evidence that anyone in command is mortal and let the others gape in awe. But seriously, the two of us at least need to provide a stunning example to the rest of the crew, and I know you'll be the best poster girl for it that Starfleet could ask for. If they see you in it, they might burn out the uniform replicators trying to get one."

That brought an uncharacteristically bashful smile to the face of the first officer, and she nodded, the bangs that framed her face hanging down in front of it. Running her fingers through it to push her hair out of her eyes, Rita looked back to the captain. "I'll get changed, just.. you'll have to give me a minute. And I'm keeping my old phaser- I can't aim that little dustbuster for the life of me, and in the heat of the moment I always forget which button is which. Gimme a knob and a trigger, you know?"

"If you gave up yours, I'd have to give up mine. Perks of command, as they say." Enalia chuckled softly.

As the captain spoke, the sentimental spacefarer plucked at the broken gold braid that shadowed the solid one on her sleeve. "All good things, right?" she said softly, then stood, turning to the replicator. "Computer, you have the designs of the new approved uniform models loaded and ready, correct?"

=^= Affirmative, Commander =^=

"Then please replicate me a modern uniform in command red, if you please. Minidress version, and I'll need some black tights to go with it." Rita ordered as she sat down to start unzipping her boots. The replicator hummed, then beeped because it didn't have room to make the hosiery until she removed the uniform. Boots removed, Rita stood to retrieve the bright crimson uniform, at which point the replicator hummed to life again and created the tights in her size that she'd requested. "Better make me a pair of scants to match the uniform too, computer."

Standing, Rita shrugged smoothly out of the black leggings, then pulled the old gold minidress off over her head and held it out at arm's length. Which was when the captain discovered that apparently on Wednesdays, Paris wore pink under her uniform, as she had a matching balcony bralette and a pair of high-cut bikini panties in a matching shade of bright pink. At no point would the spotted captain ever have imagined such lacy underthings were lurking under at antique uniform.

While Rita was temporarily distracted, Enalia punched up a command override on her terminal she had already prepared and switched Rita's comm badge code over to a new one that happened to be in her pocket. She then feigned interest in the sudden strip tease in her office.

"We had some wild times, you and me, huh? Blue and the gold, brave and the bold. But we're part of a new generation now, and we can't just represent the old Starfleet anymore. We have to live in the present, so we can build the future." With that, Rita bent to reverently lay the old uniform down like a fallen soldier, unable to prevent tears from coming. It was ridiculous to get so emotional about something as silly as her old uniform, but the 2257 Starfleet pinup girl was sentimental to a fault, and she was always terrible at saying goodbye. Even to things that were just mementos of days gone by.

"I'm sure we can find a way to preserve your old friend if you like," Enalia offered.

Grabbing the hosiery out of the replicator, it hummed again manufacturing a pair of 'granny panty' briefs for the uniform. Paris knew from experience they would be necessary given her abundant assets, which always made skirts ride shorter in the back. Deftly sliding into the hose, Rita snatched the scants and wriggled into them, checking to insure that her slender profile panties were not visible past the scants, which of course they were not. Grabbing the uniform itself, the feisty first officer pulled it on over her head, got a bit stuck, discovered the neck zipper, then managed to get herself wrestled into the uniform proper. Unclipping her custom 2260's 'starburst' comm badge, she clipped it onto her left breast, securing the magnet behind it before zipping up the neck and shuffling it a bit on her frame.

Reaching down, she grabbed one of her boots and shoved her left foot in, expertly redressing as if she had done drills to see how fast she could get uniformed. Which, being Rita, she had. Settling into place in front of the captain's desk, Rita struck a pose and modeled the bright red minidress.

"So...?" she asked, half expectantly and half with genuine vulnerability.

Standing and coming around her desk, Enalia palmed a couple small pieces of gold in her pocket and smoothly adjusted Rita's collar and ran one hand over where her rank pips and comm badge were, deftly swapping out the two she needed to in the hopes that Rita wouldn't notice immediately. "I think you look stunning in a very commanding and professional way. Even a Vulcan kolinahr master would turn and take notice."

Stepping back to lean against her own desk, she set the old comm badge and black pip on Rita's antique uniform. "I'll expect you to wear this from now on, you know."

Inhaling deeply, for impressive effect, Rita let it out slowly. "Yes ma'am, I know. It's the uniform of the day, and I have to set the example. I'll get used to it. And I'll put old goldie in a nice frame or make a mannequin for her or something. I mean, not like she was an original anyway- I've been spitting them out of the replicator for months now." Realizing she was rambling, Rita noticed the swap of her comm badge as well and pouted slightly, though she said nothing. "Daddy always said it's not the uniform, it's the man inside it that matters. Of course, he said it to Albert and it was always the 'man' in the uniform, but the point remains.... wow, I really do not like that emblem at all..."

"It's the person that makes the uniform, not the uniform that makes the person. And the two pillars symbolizes that you're never alone. The outline of the delta shield symbolizes that our journey goes on, even when one part ends." Enalia had studied this part well, just in case. "I think it's well thought out and a lot more meaningful than our old symbol, don't you, Commander Paris?"

That brought forth a snort. "Commander Paris was my father. I never get used to hearing it... somehow it always makes me think someone's talking to my dear old daddy over my shoulder when I hear that. As for the emblem, well, I can't hold onto the past forever, Captain. I'll get used to it," Rita tried to sound optimistic, but as it always did when she was insincere, it was incredibly obvious. "How do you live without a mirror in here? Don't you check your gig line before you take to the bridge?"

"Your dear old daddy isn't first officer of my ship. You are." Enalia chuckled softly. "Computer, mirror." With a chirrup, a mirror slid down out of the ceiling in front of the fish tank. "Does that help?"

"Yes, thanks," Rita said absently as she fidgeted with the new uniform. "You would have kicked dear old daddy's ass up between his shoulder blades once he started explaining just how you were doing everything wrong and how you should..." the chatty commander trailed off at that. "Uh, ma'am, did they change the rank pips too? I think I'm supposed to have a black one here..."

"No, Commanders have three gold pips, so that's correct." Enalia was grinning like a Cheshire cat as she came up behind Rita to check her over.

"Ah, didn't you just promote me back to lieutenant commander last month, ma'am?" Rita started, before a nonstop stream of protests and muttering began. "I mean, even counting my rank from... well, to be fair, I was frocked a commander, but we were still in all of the paperwork, but still- Captain, I must protest! The crew will see it as favoritism. I mean, you just promoted me, and according to Starfleet regs... well, at least the ones I remember, I'm supposed to serve as a lieutenant commander on active duty for a minimum of..."

"Eighteen months," Enalia replied, picking up a PaDD and offering it to Rita. "And since we reverted your promotion date to your original one that means you have about one hundred thirty years time in grade. Is that math incorrect?"

"Ah... hundred and thirty, yes ma'am," Rita muttered. "I'm not going to win this one, am I, Cap'n? You want a commander as first and the Commodore approved it and I can complain about getting promoted but it makes me look like an ingrate, doesn't it?" The look in the captain's eyes said it all, so Rita just rolled hers and set her jaw. "It's... thank you, Captain. It demonstrates the amount of faith you have in me, and I'm grateful."

Turning to regard the Trill captain, Rita Paris did her best impression of the commanding officer's own lopsided smirk. "So in the middle of nowhere in deep space, you hit me with a starship and found out your ship had a ghost. By morning you know you had a predestination paradox onboard, but you gave me reign to see what I'd do. I saved your ship, and when transfers took half the crew, you made me your first, because you said I was the only one who could be your new XO. Like you knew that was predestined, too. One last puzzle piece that had to snap into place for everything to go right."

"But that part you couldn't have known. That part was just you, banking on me." The smile that came up was a tearful wavering smile, and Rita Paris draped her arms over the captain's shoulders to enfold her in a hug. After all, they had privacy, Rita's instincts told her it was fine and she was moved by the moment, carried along by the emotional tide which was the ebb and flow of her life. Squeezing the pirate princess to her tightly for a few seconds, Rita whispered. "You're a hell of a captain, Enalia Artan Telvan. I'll be your commander until somebody better comes along, or I show up from the future or another dimension or something." Pulling back, Rita rolled her eyes as she shook her head. "It's my life, I've learned to expect the unexpected."

Enalia was always up for a good hug and this one she had no resistance against. "I'm an excellent judge of character and I'll hold you to that because while we're out there on that bridge we can make a difference. Computer, drop my holo-disguise." With a chirrup, the old uniform faded and revealed that she had been wearing the new uniform the whole time. "Now what do you say we show them just what kind of a difference we can make?"

Mopping away the tars, Rita made herself bridge presentable in about 5 seconds. Gesturing broadly, she ushered the captain toward the exit. "After you, Captain Telvan."

"Sneaky damn pirate," Rita grinned as she muttered under her breath.